Drain baffle in refrigerating apparatus



Patented Aug. 12, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRAINBAFFLE IN REFRIGERATING APPARATUS -Lawrence.A.'Philipp, Detroit, Mich., assignor to 'Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a .corporationof .Maryland Application May 1'7, 1950; Serial No. 162,435

1 Claim. 1

Thisinvention relates generally to refrig'erating apparatus and more particularly I to a. combined=airbaffle and drip pan for householdtype refrigerators.

It is an object of the invention to provide for a -household type of'refrigerator a combined air bafile 'anddrip pan to prevent defrost water from a freezing element in an-upper freezingcompartmerit-from dripping into alower food storage compartment, and in addition to control aircirculation between the compartments for correspondingly regulating humidity of the food storage compartment.

7 Another object of the invention is to provide acombined air baffle and dripipan unit of aicharacter to insure'against'leakage of defrost water i into the food storage compartment through: a

controlled airport-in the-unit.

' Another object-of the invention is to' provide a light weight heat insulating baflle unithaving provisions for catching drip water and also for iregulating circulation" of air between adjacent compartments of a cabinet.

7 Further objects and advantages of'the present invention will be apparent from the following broken away and in .cross section Fig. 3 isa horizontal sectional. viewof the refrigerator, takenalongline33 of Fig. 1, showingmy combined drip pan and air baiile in plan;

Fig. 4. is a cross sectional view of the drip panair bafile, taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view-of the drip pan-air baffle, taken along line 55 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of a detail of th drip pan-air baffie, taken along line 6--6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, there is shown a refrigerating. apparatus of the household type having a cabinet 20, and a refrigerating system including a refrigerant evaporator 22 and a refrigerant condensing element 24. The evaporator 22 is located within the cabinet adjacent the topthereof, andthe condensing element 24 is housed Withina machinery compartment 26 within the cabinet ad- 'jacent the bottomthereof. Refrigerant-supply and return conduits 28 and 3ilconnect' the evaporator 22 and condensing element 24- together. Preferably, the supply conduit is a small diameter or capillary tube adapted to supply liquid refrigerant from the condensing element 24 in proper amounts to the evaporator 22-to maintain desired refrigeration thereof.

Th present cabinet construction comprises, in general, ametal casing 32 and a metal'liner 34 separated by suitable heat insulating material 35. The casing and liner are box-shaped having adjacent upright edges spannedpreferably by heat-breaker strips 38 which extend along-the sides, top "and bottom of the cabinet'at the front thereof giving also a finished appearance to the cabinet. A door access opening at the front of the cabinet may be closed by a door 40" which may be hinged to one of the cabinet side walls, as

The evaporator 22 may comprise a refrigerant coil or conduit 44 and'an extended heat absorbing' member in the form-of'a metal box46. As

description, reference being had to the accomv shown, the evaporator coil44 is wound about the box 46in a manner to extend along and in contact with the top, bottom and sides thereof. Suitable clamps, cement or other means may be used to seourethe coil 44 to the walls of the box '46 to insur efficient heat transfer by conduction therebetween.

Preferably, the evaporator box 46 extends "across'the cabinet substantially to'the'side walls thereof, and alsofromthe door 40 to the rear 'wall:.of. theica'binet. In addition to functioning i a foodstoi'age compartment 48 formed by'the inner .wall surfaces. of liner 34.

Any suitabletype of condensing element may be used in the refrigerator, such as a sealed type motor compressor unit 50, and a finned condenser return conduit 30 and motor compressor unit '50.

Disposed Within the cabinet 20 is my combined drip'pan and air bafiie unit designated, in general, by the numeral 52. This unit52; in the general form of ahorizontalpartition, isarranged to co-operate with inner wall surfaces of the liner 34 to separate the evaporator 22 from the lower food storage compartment 48. Suitable slideways or rails 53 are secured to the sides of the liner 34 to support the air baffle-drip pan. Front and rear edges of the air bafile-drip pan 52 are spaced from the door and rear wall liner to provide limited or minimum capacity air passages 54 for circulation of air between the evaporator 22 and the food storage compartment 48. ihis provides for cooling of the food storage compartment without undesirable dehydration of the foods therein, although, of course, some moisture is entrained by the circulating air in the food storage compartment 48 and deposited as frost on the evaporator 22.

My air baffle-drip pan 52 comprises, in general, an upper pan 56 and a lower pan 58 which are preferably united together in relative spaced relation to form a hollow partition. Heat insulation 60 may be interposed between the pans 56, 58 to decrease heat transfer by conduction between the evaporator 22 and the food storage compartment 43. Around its outer periphery, the upper pan member 55 is provided with an upturned flange 62 to retain defrost water on the upper surface of the pan, and is further provided with a downwardly directed reinforcing flange 54 along the front edge of the pan. Around the outer periphcry of the lower pan member 55, an outturned flange 65 seats against the underside of the upper pan 56 and may be cemented or otherwise united thereto. Preferably, the pan members 56, 58 are made of a suitable plastic material and may be united or secured together by a suitable bituminous cement, or by any other suitable securing means.

Under certain conditions, such as when the relative humidity is particularly high, it is desirable to dehydrate the air circulating through the food storage compartment in order to avoid condensation therein. To this end, I provide a large capacity air passage 68 through the pan members 55, 58 and insulation 60, and provide a valve or damper 70 to control flow of circulating air through said passage 68 so that the rate of deposit of air entrained moisture from the food compartment 48 onto the evaporator may be regulated, as desired. Preferably, the passage 68 is divided by a web 12 into two aligned, elongated 'air passages which extend longitudinally of the pans. Suitable hinges 14 may be provided to hinge the damper to the upper pan member 55 and be secured to upstanding bosses 16 formed on the upper pan 56'. Extending parallel with the damper 10, a drain trough i8 is formed in the pans 56, 53, and is provided with a drain outlet 80 adjacent the low end of the trough.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 4, the upper pan member 58 is formed with an upstanding dam or flange 82 which extends around each of the air openings 68 to prevent flow of defrost Water through the air passages. On the upper edges of the dams 82, a damper seat 84 forms a port which is controlled by the damper 10. In the present construction, the damper TB is either fully closed or fully open, as illustrated in Fig. 5, in which it will be seen that in its open position the damper rests on the upper pan in overlying relationship to the trough 18. Around each of the air openings 68, the bottom and top pans are united, such as by bituminous cement, which is also applied to the pans around the drain aperture 80, as indicated at 86.

On days when the relative humidity is low such that condensation does not occur on surfaces of the food Storage compartment 48, gravity circulation between the evaporator 22 and the compartment may be limited to the capacity allowed by the restricting air passages 54, thus cooling the compartment with a corresponding low rate of dehydration thereof. However, upon increase in relative humidity to the point where condensation on the surfaces of the food storage compartment becomes evident, increased rate of air circulation between the compartment and the evaporator may be had by opening the damper 10. With the damper in open position, it will be understood that the increased air circulation deposits the moisture of the air on the cold evaporator, thus keeping the air below the dew point.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that I have provided for household type refrigerators a novel combined drip pan and air baffle in the interests of economical construction, and that the elements of this unit are so constructed and combined as to insure against passage of defrost water through the controlled air flow passages. This is accomplished by forming a dam around the said air flow passages and utilizing the upper edge of said dam as a port and seat for an air controlling damper. In addition, I have provided an improved partition construction in which a pair of plastic material pans cooperate to form an insulated partition having both the features of a drip pan and of an air controlling baiile.

Although only a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A combined air and water bafile for use beneath a refrigerator cooling element in a cabinet comprising, a lower substantially rectangular pan having an offset flange around the periphery thereof forming a horizontal ledge, an air passage through said pan, a dam around said air passage to prevent flow of defrost water therethrough and dividing the pan into front and rear sections, said dam having an annular offset in the wall thereof forming a horizontal ledge, an upper pan seating on and joined to the horizontal ledges of said lower pan, said dam extending upwardly through said upper pan and extending above the upper surface thereof, heat insulation between said pans, a hinged damper arranged to seat on the upper edge of said dam to close said air passage and hinged on the rear side of said dam to seat on said first ledge when in fully open position, a sump in said upper pan overlying said rear section, and a drain aperture in said sump through said lower pan.

LAWRENCE A. PHILIPP.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 21,830 Gibson et al June 17, 1941 2,133,958 Kalischer Oct. 25, 1938 2,244,900 Starr June 10, 1941 2,451,305 Shoemaker Sept. 28, 1948 2,501,540 Ryan Mar. 21, 1950 

